Bass Guitar Basics
Bass guitar music may not be as popular as playing the six-stringed guitar, beating the drums, or playing the piano, but it is a key piece of instrument for a band to be called a band. All famous rock bands old or new all have bass guitarists. Some of which are The Rolling Stones, KISS, and Oasis.
The purpose of the bass guitar is mostly for giving out a separate low sound that gives all manner of music. If you have no knowledge in playing a bass guitar but interested on learning how, this article will tell what you should know first. In order to learn how, you must first know about the instrument itself. Reading this article will provide you an idea of the basic parts and functions of a bass guitar.
In order to play the instrument, one should get to know the parts and their respective functions. If you already have played a the bass guitar, then you may by now know every nook and cranny of the instrument. For newbies, however, here’s a little info about the bass.
Strings
Much like a regular guitar, the bass guitar generates sound when strings are plucked and vibrated. The only difference involving a normal guitar and bass guitar is the total number of strings. Regular guitars have six strings while bass guitars only have four. These four strings also vary in thickness and are positioned in order. The thinner the string, the higher the sound it gives off.
For that reason, the thickest string is set at the top, followed by the less thicker, followed by the lesser-thicker, with the less thickest string at the very bottom.
Strings are tuned via the tuning pegs located at the very end of the guitar. Tuning pegs clasp the string in position and makes it possible to adjust the pitch of each string. There is a certain sound pattern that comes with the position of the pegs and how much tension each string should bear. If you do not know how to fine-tune the instrument, ask someone who knows.
Frets
Frets are the dividing metal strips embedded on the guitar’s neck. The function of these frets is for the player to produce different notes by pressing the strings against a corresponding fret. The nearer you get to the guitar’s body, the higher the pitch of the tone.
Amplification
The part of the bass guitar that is the most technical and sophisticated is/are the pickups. These are the ones that picks-up and translate the sound generated from the strings and turn it into electrical signals to be passed on to an amplifier which convert the same electrical signal into sound. Just like a telephone, the guitar’s pickups is the transducer.